PRESS RELEASE: NCS Interactive Online Meeting with National Sports Associations/Federations held on Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Today, Tuesday May 12th 2020, the National Council of Sports (NCS) held its first interactive online meeting with its member associations and federations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting chaired by NCS chairman Dr. Don Rukare was addressed by the State Minister for Sports Hon. Hamson Denis Obua and the General Secretary Dr. Benard Patrick Ogwel. Also, council members attended

Associations’ representatives were given an opportunity to raise their concerns, suggestions and questions, most of which got satisfying responses from the General Secretary.

Below are some of the highlights from the historic engagement.

*DR DONALD RUKARE, NCS CHAIRMAN:

Ø Thanked members for attendance and appealed to all to stay vigilant in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ø Promised that NCS will continue to reach out to people in associations.

Ø The focus of the council appointed on February 14th, 2020 will continue to be transparency & governance, accountability, sports policy formulation, partnerships, putting athletes at the forefront of the sports agenda

*DR BENARD PATRICK OGWEL, NCS GENERAL SECRETARY:

Ø Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, so many programs have been cancelled including this quarter’s sports forum.

Ø A variance is expected in government releases

Ø NCS expects Shs7.1bn in subvention from government for the fourth quarter of the ongoing 2019/20 financial year.

Ø The NCS Mandate goes beyond sponsoring events and is spelt out in the NCS Act so the focus shouldn’t stop on funding.

Ø NCS will continue to pursue the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as agreed upon to uplift the facilities at the Lugogo Sports Complex.

Ø I appeal to federations to continue following the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.

*HON. HAMSON DENIS OBUA:

Sports will resume on two conditions;

Ø Suspension on sports activities will be lifted when Uganda contains the COVID-19 pandemic and no one has an exact answer on when resumption will happen.

Ø When the Ministry of Education and Sports has followed all the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.

BUDGET:

Ø All government ministries, departments and agencies have had their 2020/21 budgets cut. The total of this cut is Shs402bn.

Ø Sports will therefore face a cut of Sss8bn in the appropriation bill that has since been passed by parliament.

Ø We shall continue to engage with the speaker and parliament on these issues throughout the financial year. If there is an opportunity to raise it in supplementary expenditure, we shall try.

Ø When government continues to raise revenue through the financial year, this may as well be increased.

Ø We were shocked and didn’t expect the cut and it’s a disadvantage for now.

Ø For the fourth quarter, government has cut all development expenditure for all ministries, departments and agencies to zero to be able to allocate resources for the COVID-19 pandemic fight.

Ø Council should sit and make adjustments to the pre-planned budgets once subvention is released knowing it will be less than that planned.

MANDELA NATIONAL STADIUM:
Ø I will address the media tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, 2020, on the status of Mandela National Stadium as per a recent report made by international bodies.

Ø We are going to conduct a needs assessment to make the necessary rehabilitation on the country’s national stadium which wil be presented in cabinet.

Ø I agree that this is an old stadium and there’s need for a new modern Stadium.